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Camping

Life is good to me, and I say this mostly because I wake up every morning in an open meadow to sunshine, birds and beautiful trees surrounding me. Each night before bed my friends and I philosophize the meaning of life around a fire. We commune with each other, dining on the best of foods a fire, dutch oven, and happy hands can offer; on the nights our hands are tired, we dine on words.

Heading back to the canyon was an easy decision financially since I am out of work and hope to save what little money I do have. Mentally though, I struggled with the thought of being transient again and hopping from place to place to place. I'm sure this would be hard without the network of support I have from friends and family, but honestly, I prefer this over conventional living. Spending my nights with a minimum of 5 people (often more) reminds me that community creates the bonds on which I thrive. The collective energy feeds my heart and mind. Laughter is contagious and opportunities abound to practice friendship.

Check it! One night for dinner we had a superb peanut curry/stew. There is no official recipe since I don't often us such things... but it went something like this:

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 serrano peppers, diced

6 cloves garlic (no joke)

yellow curry powder, enough to make you happy (few tbsps?)

~ 2 tsp cumin seeds

~ 1 tbsp all purpose seasoning

cinnamon, shake shake shake

Pork (optional), small pieces

3/4 head cauliflower, crumbled

4 carrots, chopped

5 russett potatoes, chopped

Fry that all together in the dutch oven over some hot coals. Once the meat is seared and spices are fragrant, add:

2 cans coconut milk

~1 cup peanuts

~1.5 cups peanut butter

~1 can tamarind nectar

Cook 'til done, serve with rice (also cooked over the fire in a massive aluminum can).